The Next 40 Years: KGA’s Vision and Values

If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that KGA recently celebrated our 40th anniversary. It is hard to believe we’ve been lucky enough to do what we love for over 40 years! With this milestone we took the opportunity to do some self-reflection… What do we want the next 40 years to look like? What do we need to do in order to achieve this?

Fast forward through months of lively discussion accompanied by lots of laughter and few sentimental tears. In order to make KGA the best possible place to be for our clients AND for our employees, we took a step back and put a lot of thought into our vision for the company and what we value in the long-term, and on a day-to-day basis.

Without further ado, we are excited to share with you…

Our Vision

We work with, and for, our friends. KGA’s chemistry boils down to one heartfelt premise: We treat our colleagues and our clients as we would our friends. Our continued success depends on a culture of mutual well-being, accomplished through inspired innovation, personal connection, respectful communication, and well-earned celebration.

Our Values

Bring your best

We meet or exceed our clients’ expectations with designs that delight, stand the test of time, and meet our standards for timeline, budget and quality. It’s an honor to make our client’s lives better through the architecture we create, and we are proud to deliver our best work every day.

Let it breathe

Like people, brilliant ideas need air to survive. We treat new ideas as precious assets to test, nurture, motivate and improve. We are excited to let ideas evolve and breathe new life into our work, especially when we create them in collaboration with our clients.

Own it

We are accountable to each other and our clients. We are proactive, taking responsibility for our actions and our work and promptly correcting mistakes when they happen. We value reliability and trustworthiness, and expect each other to own the outcome of our actions.

Always be shipping

Creative thinking leads to great architecture, but only if we deliver. When Steve Jobs told his team, “Real artists ship,” he meant that anyone can have ideas, but real artists make them come alive by following through to implementation. At KGA, we deliver on the promises we make to clients. In short, we ship.

Be honest

Feedback makes us all better, and we welcome the kind that is honest and respectful. We appreciate the insights we learn from each other and our clients. Constructive dialogue contributes to strong and lasting relationships, which are the core of our business.

Give back

We are good stewards of our business and our community, contributing to the future of both. We volunteer, share our knowledge, mentor new professionals and participate in events that support our industry. In our community, we help organizations improve the lives of others through our design services. By giving back, we share in and support the wellbeing of others.

Fill the tank

People are most productive when they engage periodically in self-renewal. At KGA, we encourage everyone to be responsible for their own wellbeing, whether it’s through physical, social, mental or spiritual activity. We help ourselves, so we can help others and our business.

Work happy

We’re serious about our work, but we’re just as serious about being happy at work. We make time to celebrate, laugh, share experiences, and enjoy each other, because work without fun is just … work!